The ABC of Materialist Dialectics

by Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky explains in the article and the objectives and principles of what the idea of ​​Materialist Dialectics, explaining the difference between them and the measurement of traditional Aristotelian ideas and idealism

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Russia, Theory

6 pages, Library Binding

First published December 1, 1939

About the author

See also Лев Троцкий

Russian theoretician Leon Trotsky or Leon Trotski, originally Lev Davidovitch Bronstein, led the Bolshevik of 1917, wrote Literature and Revolution in 1924, opposed the authoritarianism of Joseph Stalin, and emphasized world; therefore later, the Communist party in 1927 expelled him and in 1929 banished him, but he included the autobiographical My Life in 1930, and the behest murdered him in exile in Mexico.

The exile of Leon Trotsky in 1929 marked rule of Joseph Stalin.

People better know this Marxist. In October 1917, he ranked second only to Vladimir Lenin. During the early days of the Soviet Union, he served first as commissar of people for foreign affairs and as the founder and commander of the Red Army and of war. He also ranked among the first members of the Politburo.

After a failed struggle of the left against the policies and rise in the 1920s, the increasing role of bureaucracy in the Soviet Union deported Trotsky. An early advocate of intervention of Army of Red against European fascism, Trotsky also agreed on peace with Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. As the head of the fourth International, Trotsky continued to the bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, and Ramón Mercader, a Soviet agent, eventually assassinated him. From Marxism, his separate ideas form the basis of Trotskyism, a term, coined as early as 1905. Ideas of Trotsky constitute a major school of Marxist. The Soviet administration never rehabilitated him and few other political figures.

Reviews

[Will]

Things are always changing, ok yea, got it!

(This is 6 pages long)

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

axioms fr

[Max Bownas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leon out here dunking on a=a like it's childplay, dialectics for the win

[Omololu Adeniran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trotsky remains the intellectual giant of the Russian revolution, along with Lenin. A lot of people have tried and failed (Edmund Wilson comes to mind in his Finland Station) to explain the dialectic, the dialectic of Marx. Trotsky, in about 6 pages, manages to do so with brilliant clarity, by way of the simple Aristotelian syllogism (A equals A); and then by explaining the nature of a quantity vs quality. The dialectic comes to life in the process where a quantity assumes a new form through a series of changes, and becomes a quality (a solid cube of sugar, vs that cube when the action of water has worked it's magic on it)

Actually, there's no magic. The materialist philosophy of Marx leaves no room for mysticism in its designs. The periodic table of elements, evaporation, even Darwin's evolution- of which Trotsky says is the finest example of the dialectic- are all brought to bare in this fine disquisition. From solid to liquid, possibility to certainty, from a democracy to a dictatorship of the proletariat..that moment of change, that specific mode of thinking so attractive to Marxists, Trotsky explains with great lucidity here.

[KT · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, succinct explanation of dialectical thinking as analysing all things and phenomena in their continous change and that Marxist dialectical thinking is materialist, since its roots are in objective reality
The argument is that this gives one a richness of content and flexibility in analysing not capitalism in general, but a given capitalism at a given state of development, and not a workers' state in general, but a given workers' state in a backward country in an imperialist encirclement for example

[David Nathans · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I hadn’t known that this was written in 1939 I would’ve guessed that this was written by someone who’s knowledge of logic began and ended at a cursory glance at its Wikipedia page. Trotsky seems to confuse the concept “1”, with its application, and to believe that because there is no perfect quantity of some physical object to correlates to “1” I.e. “no perfect one pound of sugar”. “1” therefore does not exist

[Carlos Blancas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trotsky argues convincingly for the "succulence" of dialectics. His word.

[Josh Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Understands dialectical materialism infinitely better than Stalin's Dialectical and Historical Materialism at a tenth the length.

[Hugh · Rating 2 out of 5]

uuuuuh....

[Fabian Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential to study for anyone who aspires to one day be a Marxist or dialectician.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

strong emphasis on the law of quantity/quality

[Adam Baguley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Upon first reading, you may think that Trotsky has gone mad. "What on earth is he talking about?", you may say, "Of course a bag of sugar is the same as a bag of sugar!". We have an instinctual revulsion to the ideas of Materialist Dialectics because our society as a whole ignores them. Even in such a questions of is a bag of sugar equal to itself, there are nuances and clarifications. Trotsky correctly points out that the usefulness of classic logic when applied to reality is dubious.

Despite this, it is important to realize that Dialectics does not disprove logic, but is itself an extension of it. Much like integration and differentiation allows us to explore the change in variables of the static equations we learn in lower mathematics, Dialectics, and in particular Dialectical Materialism, is an improvement upon the basis of logic that places it more in touch with the constantly changing reality we find ourselves in.

This short explanation is incredible valuable, and if you approach it slowly, with care, and with the highest level of critical thinking, you will learn much from it!

[Juan Pablo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a short read. It’s an excerpt from a slightly longer text by Leon Trotsky called “A Petty-Bourgeois Opposition in the Socialist Workers Party”, which I have not fully read. It’s helpful, to me at least, for fleshing out some of the concepts of dialectical materialist thinking. I’ve read Anti-Duhring & The Dialectics of Nature, both by Friedrich Engels & they were helpful with the former being a bit dense from what I can remember.

Nonetheless, it’s a short read, with the few concepts that are laid out briefly, Trotsky does make a point to mention, to sum it up, it’s not a master key & there is no getting around & therefore no “easy” way around analyzing a given state on its own historical & material conditions. Conditions are ever changing & were flawed beings which means there will be some errors along the way but I do feel it’s something to necessary to get a grasp on things so as to have an accurate understanding & make the correct assessments & choices or as close to correct as possible.

[Timothy Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this is what Russian people think? Syllogism evolution? How does it work?